Family Ties
by Charming Seductress
Summary: Someone from Booth's past has gone missing, will the team be able to find her in time?
1. Chapter 1

FAMILY TIES

CHAPTER 1

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

--*--

Seeley and Temperance sat next to each on Dr. Sweet's couch for what seemed to be the millionth time this week. He had asked to see them more often now that his book was picking up momentum. As long as Sweet's stayed away from the personal stuff Booth had become willing to help.

Cam opened the door rushing in, "Booth, we need you!" Her voice was urgent and there was a slight edge to it.

"Not now Cam, we're discussing our new murder case with Dr. Sweet's right now. I'll find you in a bit." Booth said turning back to Dr. Sweet's, who appeared to be shocked by his willingness to stay.

"I handed the case over to another team. We have a kidnapping on our hands." Cam interjected.

"What? Why? We were so close." Brennan asked turning around.

"Seriously Cam-"

Before Booth could continue Cam cut him off, "Seeley, it's your sister! She's been kidnapped"

"Sister?" Dr. Sweets asked, looking to Brennan only to see the same confused look on her face.

"You have a sister?"

--*--

A/N: I know it's short, but I want some feedback before I continue. Let me know what you guys think and if you want me to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

FAMILY TIES

CHAPTER 2

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

--*--

"I need to know everything! Everything!" Seeley rushed into Cam's office with Temperance and Lance Sweets on his heels.

"Your mother reported her missing when she didn't check in last night, it seems your sister checks in with her every day." Camille said handing a file over to Booth.

"What's her name Cam?" Temperance asked her.

"Her name is Sophia. Sophia Ramirez, she changed it about four years ago." Camille responded not looking at Seeley.

"What else Cam?" Seeley asked her.

"Your mother called her best friend Aiden, who said he hadn't seen in her in two days. He also reported her missing." Camille paused. "When her place was examined there were signs of a struggle, and blood, lots of it."

"Blood? Hers?" Seeley asked.

"It's hard to say, we don't have DNA. But you know Sophia, she fought back Seeley, there's no doubt about that." Camille gently touched his shoulder; he cringed away from the touch.

"And there's no way to get DNA?" Seeley questioned.

"If you gave me a blood sample I could match DNA between you and her, since she is your sister." Temperance stated.

"Even if she's only my half sister?" Seeley looked into her eyes for the first time with noticeable pain written there.

"Yes." Was all she could manage to say.

"There's more. " Camille said cautiously. "A note was sent to your guys Seeley, whoever took your sister know she's related to you and they aren't asking for ransom."

"What does that mean?" Lance asked.

"Vengeance." Seeley stated. "This is personal whoever took her, knows me and this is their way of getting to me."

"Through a sister you obviously have no contact with and who you aren't close to considering the name change." Temperance probed, saying the wrong thing as always.

"I'm going to go talk to my guys and see where that damn letter came from." Seeley said with an edge to his voice. He was becoming angry, very angry.

Camille stood in his path though blocking his way of exit. "You can't!"

"Are you insane?"

"Seeley, I told them we would take this case because you would be objective. They didn't even want you to know about her disappearance until this was over. I said I would make sure you stayed objective and didn't get emotional. If you go over there barging in and making demands you'll be taken off the case, and we as your team won't be able to find her for you." Camille grabbed his upper arms gently pushing him inside the room.

"I don't care Cam." Seeley raised his voice, "I'm going to do this my way!"

"You don't want to find her?" Temperance stated rather than asked.

"Bones, she is my sister! I don't want anything bad to happen to her, regardless of the problems we may have had." Seeley turned on her.

"We'll find her then." Brennan stated quickly, even though she couldn't read the situation she could read Booth and he really loved his sister, his fear about what could be happening to her was apparent. "We need to go to the scene of the crime to figure out what happened to her."

--*--

_Stay calm… breathe. They've kept you alive so far. Don't be scared. Don't you dare let them see you're scared!_

The room was dark and her hands were tied behind the back of the chair she was placed in. Her feet too, those were tied up to the chair. She could feel her ribs on her left side were broken and her lip was swollen. _Come on Sophia; think you have got to get yourself out of this. There has to be a way out! Think dammit!_

There was the sound of a door opening behind her, which caused her head to jerk up. A single light bulb hung over her head in the dingy room and as the footsteps entered it was turned on.

"Well well well, looky here she's awake." The man came and kneeled in front of her. Sophia recognized him as her first attacker. The first man who forced himself into her apartment. His eye was swollen, and his nose has obviously been reset. Sophia couldn't resist this smile that came onto her face. "And what are you're smiling about my pretty."

"Looks like I'm not the only one with a couple of battle wounds."

"Well I'm not the one tied to a chair am I?" He smirked and leaned in close to her face. "I have to say, the way you fought back there, it kind of turned me on."

"Then why don't you untie me and say we have another go at it. And how about this time you don't call in a buddy of yours, just to be fair."

"You would like that wouldn't you." He stood, "We figured you would present a problem for us, the sister of two military men we knew you had to be trained in some form of self-defense at least"

"Sister of military men?" Sophia asked the man, she was doing her best to memorize him. _Dark curly hair. Dark eyes. Scar above his left eyebrow. Come on Sophia more you need to find more._

"Don't play stupid with me Sophia, you're the sister of Jared Booth who serves in the military now and Seeley Booth who served as a Ranger and now works for the FBI."

"Maybe next time you should do a little more research before you kidnap someone under false notions. My name is Sophia Ramirez, not Booth."

"You changed your name legally four years ago, don't play games with me." He leaned in to her face

"Why on earth would I do that?"

"You tell me."

"There's nothing to tell. I don't know those men you mentioned, can't be of any help to you."

"Is she awake?" Another voice came from behind.

"Yeah, we should feed her if we plan to use her."

"Alright, and we're needed." The voice then disappeared and the door closed again.

"I'll come back soon, and then we'll have a talk about your brother." He leaned down to Sophia leaning his cheek against her "See you soon beautiful" He whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek.

Then she was in the darkness again.

--*--

Lance sat in his office with Seeley; Camille thought it would be best if he stayed behind.

"What happened between you and your sister?" Lance asked after minutes of silence.

"You're not even going to try to ease into that?" Seeley asked with a bitter laugh. "Nothing happened."

"She changed her name four years ago, is it safe to say that's when you had the falling out?"

"What makes you think there was a falling out? She's my half sister."

"You say that Agent Booth like you consider her less of a sister because you don't have the same maternal AND paternal parents. Would it be safe to say you consider Jared more of a brother because you share the same parents?"

"Why don't we just sit here, in silence."

"I have to do my job Agent Booth, and that requires looking over her file and trying to get a feel for her." Lance set the file on the table between him and Seeley.

"She's not a suspect, she is a victim! And you don't analyze the victims!" Seeley grabbed the file from the table and held it under his crossed arms.

The opening door ended the conversation indefinitely, "We have pictures from the scene." Brennan said motioning for the men to follow her.

They were set up in Angela's office, the pictures displayed on the screen. "The struggle started in the kitchen." Camille began immediately. "Like I said it's evident that she fought the attacker, and was doing well. There were traces of two different blood samples in the kitchen. Then the fight progressed into the living room, which explains the broken coffee table and overturned end table. But then there's a third blood sample."

"A third?" Seeley demanded.

"Yes there was another attacker in cahoots with the first one, they knew they would need more than one guy to capture her."

"What about the hair?" Temperance asked.

"Dr. Brennan!" Camille said sternly.

"What?"

"That's not something Booth will want to hear and it's not important sweetie." Angela said trying to make her see how this may be hard for Booth.

"What hair?" Seeley asked.

"A chunk of her hair was ripped out her head, the men dragged her but she was conscious at this point and it seems she was still fighting back."

"Will any of this help us find her?" Seeley asked, he didn't want to picture his baby sister with a chunk of hair missing from her head.

"No, and no one saw anything. We have no lead other than that damn note." Camille said. "We have to wait for them to make contact."

"Damnit!" Seeley punched the wall to his immediate left, "While we wait for them to contact us who knows what these fucks will do to her! We can't wait. There has to be something!"

Everyone looked at the ground, how could they make him see there really was nothing they could do.

"I'm going to the scene Cam. There has to be something you guys missed, and I need to find it." Seeley pleaded.

"Take Brennan with you, she'll keep you objective."

"Sweets you're coming to."

"What good will psychology do at a crime scene?" Brennan asked slipping out of her lab coat.

"I don't know, but my sister believed in psychology. That was her major in college, so maybe he'll see something. I need to examine every venue possible." Seeley stated and wait for Sweets to follow. He needed to figure this out, he needed to find her.

--*--

"Hello again Sophia"

This time there were three men sitting in front of her. _ Alright Soph two more guys, markers identify markers on them._

"We're gonna need you to cooperate with us just a little bit." The tallest one said, he had blonde hair.

"Well how about you give me some names if you want me to cooperate with you."

The one that attacked her smiled, "No harm in that, you're not going anywhere." He pointed to the blonde first, "That's Brock." Next he pointed to the most muscular one, "That's Toni" Then he pointed to himself, "And I'm Reid."

"Now tell us about your brother Seeley." The one called Brock said.

"I don't have a brother."

"Now that's not cooperating." Reid said, "Be a doll and work with us, or else…"

"Or else what?"

"We want to know everything you can tell us about Seeley. What he did in the war, what combat he's oriented in, where he lives, how to hurt him."

"I don't know a Seeley." Sophia repeated.

Toni shoved a picture in front of her face. A picture of Seeley and her from her twenty-second birthday, Seeley had his arm around her shoulder and she with her arm around his waist, smiles on both of their faces.

"Oh you mean that guy? Some dude I met on my birthday, haven't seen him since."

A sharp pain shot across her cheek as Toni's fist collided with her face, "We're not going to play games with you, you will do what we ask and help us in any way we want, do you understand."

Sophia lifted her head, "Not the best way to get me to cooperate with you."

"We want you to give Seeley a message for us."

Sophia laughed "Alright let's say this Seeley guy is my brother, what on earth makes you think that as his sister I would give him up to you."

"The fact that he tossed you aside, come on you have to want revenge, you must have some hate for him. Your big brother cuts you out of his life you have to hate him."

"That logic makes no sense. Even if I had angry feeling regarding my brother I would never turn him over to the likes of you."

"So now he is your brother?"

Sophia smiled, "Well I guess I can't deny my blood, but one thing is for sure I will never ever help you to hurt him. Never!"

"It's gonna be you or him doll face." Brock said sliding a finger down her jawbone.

"That's easy, me." Sophia said

"You're willing to give your life for someone who thought you were worthless enough to discard like an old toy."

"Yeah I'm stupid like that." Sophia looked at the men before her, these jerks thought that her life meant more the her than her brothers, that she would help them kill her brother or lure him in to some kind of trap. "I'm getting kind of hungry here boys, plan on feeding me?"

The three men rose, "We'll be back soon deary."

--*--

Seeley walked into her bedroom, it smelled like her. The way he remembered his sister smelling, like the air after a rainstorm. A picture on her nightstand caught his eye; it was a picture of her, Jared, and himself during a family reunion two years before the fall out. She was in between Jared and him in this picture, her arms wrapped around Seeley's neck and her back pressed on Jared's chest. They were all so happy, they were a real family.

"She loved you guys very much." Lance said from behind him. "Even though you guys had no contact with each other for five years she kept this picture of the three of you presumably her favorite by her bedside. It's what she saw when she woke and when she went to sleep." He paused for the first time seeing her, his sister was a beautiful woman, she looked more like Seeley than she did Jared, but the family resemblance was there, they all complemented each other. "The way her arms are wrapped around your neck suggest dependence and trust which is expected since you were the oldest, and her back to Jared's chest show her immense trust in him. And the way you two hold her is very protective, like you would never let anything happen to her."

"But we did, we failed her." Seeley put the picture down. "That's doesn't help our investigation. Please try to find something that does."

Lance strolled around the apartment hoping something would stick out to him, but he didn't see how a crime scene could help, from the apartment he could being t tell you about her as a person but not much about her assailants other than the act was premeditated. Lance looked around her room her laptop was open on her desk, the Mac light was blinking on the lower right portion showing that the battery had died. There was no sign of attack in her bedroom, the brawl never made it in here.

Lance walked to the living room, "Agent Booth was there any way you two used to communicate with each other, maybe leave messages for one another?" This was a long stretch but maybe through the years of abuse on their father's behalf they had conjured up a system some type of warning for one another.

"Yeah, what are you getting at?"

"I'm just thinking. Do you think she would have had time to leave you a message at any point during the attack? Could she have gotten away to leave a message behind."

"Not with two attackers."

"But with one?"

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"We had code words, a secret language we used to use growing up when there was heat back home."

"And as you got older?"

"Notes, primarily, text messages. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Is there any way to know what she was doing beforehand?"

"Well it seems to fight originated in the kitchen, so she was probably making a snack, she was taken at 3 in the morning so she wouldn't have been making a meal."

"What does she normally do when she can't sleep?"

"I don't know Sweets, what does this have to do with anything?"

"Work with me please!" Lance paced in front of Seeley

"She normally watches television usually while on her laptop on at the same time."

"So it's safe to say she was on her laptop, then went to get a snack in the kitchen, and the fight began."

"Yes."

"What if she had time to get away from the first attacker before the second arrived" Lance disappeared into his sister's room. He plugged the laptop charged from the wall into the computer and waited for it to restart itself.

"What Sweets?"

"What is she had time to come back in here and leave you a message, an unorthodox one but a message nonetheless."

"I don't understand."

Brannan walked in "There's not much else we can find."

"I think Sweets thinks he found something."

The laptop loaded and the desktop was blank except for the background picture, which was of her and a group of children.

"Sweets?"

"If she was on her laptop, it would have been on after her attack and if she got away, even for a few seconds, this may have been her only avenue for leaving something behind."

"What?"

Lance clicked on the stickies icon on the bottom of the screen, a single sticky popped up with the word "VIDEO" typed. Sweets clicked on the photo booth image on the bottom of the screen.

"A video message." When the screen loaded the last item in the photo booth was a video.

"That's from the night of the attack, open it."

This is the one shot of luck they would get, the only chance he had at a clue about what happened to his sister. Seeley found himself praying that his sister left him something useful, some information that he could work with.

--*--

A/N: Hey everyone I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a pretty long one to make up for the first not so long one. Please review and tell me what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

FAMILY TIES

CHAPTER 3

--*--

As soon as Sweets clicked on the video it began running. Sophia's face was one of alert, blood was running down her face, her hair had been pulled out of the ponytail it had been in. Her voice was ragged and rushed as she spoke.

"Please don't come looking for me! I'll find some way to get out. Someone is after you Seeley be careful!" Then it was over.

Seeley slammed down his fist his only lead and it was a bust.

Lance left the apartment first to make it back to his office for a meeting.

Seeley sat down o the edge of his sister's bed "Why didn't she just give us a clue? Anything! That video was pointless."

Tempe sat next to him, her hand found his knee in an attempt to comfort him, "She was trying to protect you."

"That's not her job." He put his head in his hand, "That's was never her job."

Seeley felt himself being pulled into a hug, and for the first time since this whole ordeal began he let himself be comforted.

--*--

Sophia sat across from Reid as she ate the soup he had brought in for her. She was never a fan of soup but she didn't think this would be a good thing to complain about, besides she needed her energy.

"You know you should just help us. I hate to see a beautiful girl like you wind up… well dead." Reid said addressing her for the first time since earlier that day, or at least what seemed to Sophia to be earlier. She was losing her sense of time.

"Do you have a family?" She took a swig of the soda they had provided her with.

After a moment of silence Reid decided to answer, "I do. Two sisters and a brother."

"Then you should understand."

"I wish I could. But how can you be so willing to give your life for someone who you haven't had contact with for five years now. I mean he obviously doesn't care about you, so why give up your whole life." Reid paused, "Think about all your kids at the center, what will they do without you."

"Looks like you guys did a decent amount of research."

"That's not an answer."

"Listen when I love I love unconditionally, so even if he doesn't care about me in the slightest I will always love my big brother and will do what I can to protect him, even if that means giving my life." Sophia went back to her soup, she felt like she hadn't eaten in days but she was sure it was probably only about seven hours since her last feeding.

--*--

"The Esperanza Center" was an old stone building; outside the building was a group of kids debating on where to go for lunch.

Booth and Brennan walked up the stone stairs in front of the building and opened the double doors. A woman in her forties greeted them, "Can I help you?"

"Hi I'm Agent Booth and this is my partner Dr. Brennan, we're looking for Aiden McCoy." Flashing his badge he looked around looking for someone matching the description his mother had given him.

"Is this bout Sophia's disappearance?" The woman asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes. Can we speak to him?"

"Of course, follow me he's in his office." The woman led them down a corridor to their right. Three doors down on the left they stopped in front of a closed door. She knocked raptly.

The door opened to reveal a tall man with dirty blond hair, "Agent Booth." He immediately recognized him from Sophia's photos. He opened the door and sitting at the desk was an adolescent about fourteen years of age.

"Are you Aiden McCoy?" Seeley asked

"Yes."

"I have a couple questions for you."

"Can you give me a couple of minutes to wrap things us here?" he motioned with his head to the child at his desk.

The adolescent boy got up, "Is this about Miss Sophia?"

"Yes, Jake it is." Aiden responded.

"Then we can finish this later" Aiden made to interrupt him, "We want Sophia back as soon as possible, my issues can wait. See you later A." The boy pushed past them.

"You be good." Aiden called after him. "Come on in Agent Booth. Thanks for bringing them over Ruth."

Seeley and Tempe walked into the office; Aiden motioned for them to take a seat with his hands. "I have a couple of questions to ask you about Sophia."

"Of course." Aiden smiled a sad smile; he reached over for a picture on his desk and handed it to Booth. The picture was of Sophia and him both dressed up for a charity event to raise money for the center. "We met here at work, and hit it off immediately. She's my best friend Agent Booth, I trust you will do all in your power to find her."

Seeley looked at the image of his sister, this picture looked recent and she even somehow looked older than he remembered. "When did you know that she was missing?"

"Almost immediately. We speak everyday. I know she was awake and in her apartment safely at one in the morning, I called her to ask about one of our children. And then I knew something was wrong in the morning, I called around nine to see if she wanted to get breakfast." Aiden's voice broke a little, "When she didn't answer after seven calls I went to her place and she didn't answer. I knew something was wrong, so I reported her missing but you know the policy Agent Booth, twenty four hours."

It was easy to see he was very shaken up by the whole thing, "Do you and Sophia have a sexual relationship?" Temperance asked.

Aiden let out burst of laughter, "No. Not at all."

"Why is that funny?" Seeley found himself asking a little harshly.

"Sorry Agent Booth I didn't mean it to offend you, your sister is a gorgeous woman, but she is my best friend and only that. I laughed because that seems to be a popular notion." Aiden extended his apology.

"Did she have any sense that someone may have been after her?" Temperance asked trying to get back to the objective questioning needed to figure something out.

"Nothing! I think that's what makes it worse, that it came out of nowhere… but I guess that's how it always goes."

"Is there anyone here she maybe have had problems with?" Brennan asked.

"No, everyone here loves her. I mean I'm not going to say she didn't have tiffs with some of the kids here but we all do."

"Tiffs?" Brennan asked

"Well they all come from different situations our kids, different age groups and sometimes they don't like us asserting our authority but they know we have their best intentions at heart."

"Maybe we can speak to some of the kids, see if they know anything saw anything strange?" Brennan asked she felt like the cop this time Seeley was being too quiet, this was taking an emotional toll on him.

"We have a lot of children, a group of them went down the street to the church to pray for her. We can start there." Aiden rose from his seat and grabbed his lightweight jacket from the back of his chair.

"Praying?" Seeley asked.

"Well we get close to our kids, and they know Sophia is religious, and since she believes they wanted to go pray to the big guy upstairs for her safety." Aiden went to the door and closed it behind him leading them out of the building.

--*--

Reid had his arm around Sophia's upper arm and lead her to a small room, on the floor of the room was a twin mattress without any sheets. "Get some sleep." He gently shoved her into the room.

Sophia looked around the room, no window and just a mattress. She wasn't tired at all, what would she do with her free time, maybe a plan? She wasn't even sure it was nighttime; she knew most kidnappers tried to mess up their captive's sense of time, maybe that's what was going on.

_Exercise?_ Yeah that seemed like a good plan to Sophia, obviously she didn't have a gym but she could do some things to keep her body mildly in shape. She dropped to the concrete and put her body in push up position and began. Her ribs were killing her and it was taking all here strength to do this, _No pain no gain._ She had to train her body to work through pain and be strong, she would find a way to get out of here she would.

--*--

Aiden walked into the church, he walked over t the fountain with Holy Water and made the sign of the cross, Seeley did the same.

Seeley saw a group of children in the front pew, a group of five, praying. Aiden was not used to seeing them so quiet, but they were involved in their prayer. "Aiden." His head turned.

"Hi Father Caponi." Aiden shook his hand, "This is Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan, they're investigating Sophia's kidnapping."

"Seeley Booth, as in her brother?" The priest asked Aiden only nodded in response, "We've been praying for her since her disappearance, the children from the center have been here for almost an hour now."

"Yeah?" Aiden was a little shocked.

"They're scared for her." Father Caponi said, "I have faith she'll come back to us."

"Faith is an irrational-" Bones began

"Bones!" Seeley reprimanded. "Father, was she scared about anything recently?"

"No. She was actually excited we were hosting a new charity event she has put together, a dance-a-thon." Father Caponi forced a smile. "It was supposed to be tomorrow night. The kids wanted it postponed, so we did indefinitely…they can't imagine doing it without her."

"They won't do it without her." Aiden said knowingly "If she doesn't make it back to us," his voice broke slightly, "they can't imagine doing a charity event without her."

"She's their strength." Father Caponi smiled and then as if realizing Aiden wasn't there alone, "How can we help you Agent?"

"I was hoping to talk to the children?"

"Follow me." Father Caponi approached the children, "Guys?"

They turned their heads and looked at the new man standing tall next to Aiden, "Did they find her? Is she ok?" The closest girl with short red hair jumped up her eye brimmed with tears.

"No Layna, they're here to ask some questions." Father Caponi wrapped a reassuring arm around her. "This is Layna, that's Adam, Scott, Cypress, and Marcus."

"You were close?" Brennan asked Layna.

"She's my social worker, she's the one who came and got me when my dad starting hitting me. She's golden." Layne closed her eyes; "She doesn't deserve anything bad to happen to her." She buried her face into the priest's chest.

"We're always surrounded by bad things this shouldn't shock anyone" Scott said as Aiden slipped into the pew next to them.

"Not her though, not Miss Sophia!" Layna started crying louder now, Adam got up and took her from the arm of the priest.

Seeley felt his heart begin to tug; his sister obviously had a huge impact on these children. They were broken up and they relied on her so much. "We're going to do everything in our power to bring her back. But if you guys know anything, anything at all let me know. Did you see her with anyone strange? Was she jumpy?"

"No she was busy with the Dance-a-Thon Charity. She was tired and cranky sometimes but I think that was due to the lack of sleep. This was going to be such a kick ass event, last couple standing after a whole night of dancing. Sophia really knew how to get us involved and off the streets. But no she didn't seem jumpy, or scared." Cypress responded,

"What about anyone strange?" Booth asked.

"She's a social worker, she talks to so many random people, but no one she seemed afraid of." Layna said after she calmed down.

"But who was she afraid of? She's a warrior that woman." Marcus said with a slight smile. The kids let out a sad group of laughs.

"We haven't helped you at all have we?" Layna asked. "I wish we knew something."

"Don't worry you have helped." Seeley comforted to girl, but he wasn't lying she had helped. Helped him to see his sister through these people's eyes.

--*--

Booth was driving in silence, Brennan wanted to do something to comfort him but there was nothing she could do. There was no information to work with and they didn't have any leads as to where she could be. "What do we do now?" She asked him.

"We have to wait for them to make contact." He hated it, he hated that he had no idea where she was, who took her or what they were doing to her. If they did anything he would rip their lungs out!

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry we couldn't find any leads Booth, I can see you're upset about this."

"Of course I am, they took my sister." Temperance opened her mouth to say something but immediately shut it, "What?" He asked her.

"Nothing." She kept her eyes focused on the road in front of her.

"You want to know what happened between us." He stated.

"I do."

"I can't quite yet. I can't talk about it."

"Ok."

And they both understood that he would tell her, he would tell her when the time was right.

--*--

Seeley walked into his office and saw the voicemail light flashing on his phone; putting it on speaker he then played the message.

"Seel, it's Jared. I just got off the phone with mom and she informed me about the whole Sophia situation. Call me and tell me how the investigation is going and if I can help." Click.

Seeley erased the message and sat down in his chair. He let out a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair. It had been three whole days since her capture and he couldn't get his mind off of what could be happening to her. He had no way of knowing if his sister was safe. _This is my fault; I should have been protecting her_. He had been blaming himself. No contact for five years and the first contact is not only forced but her life is in danger because of him. _It was never worth it Seeley, it was not worth losing you sister over and this isn't either. You have to find her!_

An image of his sister flashed before him the memory came flooding in, the last time they spoke they fought, yelled at each other and said all types of unforgivable things. But he was the worst, the last words he said to her were, "From this moment on I don't have a sister. You're dead to me Sophia!" He remembered the tears spilling from her eyes; he hadn't let himself think about that day in so long.

Seeley picked up the phone and dialed his brother's number.

"Booth."

"Jared, it's Seeley."

"Seel, what's going on?"

"She was taken three days ago, no ransom was asked and now we're just waiting for them to make contact."

"Waiting for them? Is there nothing else you can do?"

"We haven't been able to find anything, no leads whatsoever."

There was a long silence.

"Do you think she's okay?" Jared's voice was soft and vulnerable.

"She took a hard beating but she has to be alive, they took her to get to me."

"What can I do?"

"I'll keep you posted."

Another silence.

"What if the last words we said to her… are the lasts words."

"They won't be, we'll get her back."

"It all seems so stupid now doesn't it? Her life is in jeopardy and we cut her out because we took things too far."

"I know."

--*--

Seeley was lying in bed, he couldn't sleep and he hated having to wait to the attackers to make contact, but he had tried everything possible to get information. No one had seen anything and she hadn't left any clues when she had the chance. What if something really did happen to her, what if he never saw her again. She would never even get to meet her own nephew.

A knock on the front door pulled him out of his thoughts. He tuned his head it was nearly midnight. He grabbed the pistol from his night table, and tucked it into the back of his pants as he made his way to the door. He opened it slowly to find bones standing on his doorstep, she had white box in her hand and a bag in the other.

"Bones?"

"I knew you wouldn't be able to sleep." Booth moved aside to let her in, he grabbed the box from her hands and he looked questioningly "I brought you some pie, and milk," she lifted the bag in her hand to indicate that's where the milk was, "I thought we could have some and watch television."

"You want to watch television?"

"Well actually I want to make sure you weren't alone tonight"

"That's nice of you Bones, but not necessary."

"Yes it is you shouldn't be alone." She put the milk out on the counter in the kitchen and Booth pt the pie down. Brennan made her way around the kitchen expertly and took two plates and forks out of their places. She cut some pieces of pie and poured milk.

"I'm actually kind of glad you came, I couldn't sleep."

"I figured." She handed him a plate.

"Why are you here Bones?"

"You would be here for me." She tasted the pie "Besides I hear that's what friends are for." She said with a smile and a little twinkle in her eyes.

He smiled, she had brought over apple caramel pie it was his favorite. And yet he couldn't fully enjoy it not knowing whether his sister was even being fed.

--*--

Sophia sat on the bare mattress; her knees were drawn up into her chest. She had to find a way out of this. But how? She wasn't like her brothers; she wasn't good in these situations. She wasn't a hero. She was nothing even remotely close. But she couldn't risk Seeley's life just because she wasn't heroic like her big brothers, maybe if she got out of this they would be proud of her. Sophia laughed lowly; she knew that was a silly thought they had gone five years without her they surely weren't going to change now.

--*--

Brennan had been watching the history channel and Booth was sitting next to her but not quite paying attention. "That was really fascinating to watch the transgression of sex between the times of queen Victoria up until now." She looked over at Booth only to see a blank look on his face "You weren't paying attention were you?"

"Sorry Bones, I was jus thinking about my sister." Brennan only nodded keeping her mouth shut so the questions she had wouldn't spill over. He knew so much about her family and he had seen her cry over her family and yet she hardly knew about his family. But he didn't know how to talk about them. "She's eleven years younger than me." He had to give her something, "Our dad had an affair and before we knew it there was a baby on our doorstep with a note. My mother knew about the affair and instead of turning the baby away she decided we should keep her. She always told Jared and me that regardless of who her mother was she was our sister, our family. And we all loved each other we were close. And then five years ago, she…" Seeley stopped himself, he had never told anyone about this. "She made a choice that me and Jared couldn't understand and we all hurt each other." He stopped himself, he couldn't talk about this anymore, he couldn't talk about it without seeing his sisters crying face, without knowing that she was kidnapped somewhere because of him.

Brennan placed her hand on his should and rubbed gently, trying to soothe him Before she knew what was happening Seeley was hugging her, his arm were wrapped around her waist and his head resting on her chest. He was scared. Temperance wrapped her arms around his shoulder and pulled him closer to her, and rested her head on top of his. She didn't need to say anything, just be here for him. Just like all those times her let her hug him because she was scared, she could finally return the favor.

She didn't know when or how it happened but Seeley had fallen asleep on her chest, his arms still wrapped around her. Slowly she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position keeping a hold of him. She leaned behind her and pulled the fleece over their bodies, and shut the television off. Temperance ran her finger slowly through his hair, she wanted this case to be over, she hated seeing her partner like this. Temperance kissed Seeley on the top of his forehead and closed her eyes, all the while holding on to her partner, she knew she had made the right choice in coming here tonight.

--*--

A/N: Here's another one. I hope you guys enjoy it. Feedback is more than welcome.


	4. Chapter 4

FAMILY TIES

CHAPTER 4

--*--

Booth heard his phone ringing and it woke him up instantly from his slumber, but as he started to wake he realized that he wasn't alone. Bones was asleep underneath him, he must have passed out on her last night. Her body began to turn as the phone kept ringing threatening to wake her up from her dreams.

"Booth"

Camille's voice came from the other end, "You have to get to the Jeffersonian now!"

"What? Why?" Seeley asking lifting himself up quickly to get throw on a new shirt and brush his teeth quickly, he could hear the urgency in her voice.

"The kidnappers sent us a telegram they're going to set up a live video feed in a half hour."

"I'll be there" And he hung up. He sprinted to the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth and picked out a clean shirt, not even bothering to change his jeans. He walked towards the door and passed his sleeping partner on the way out. He didn't want to wake her, she looked too peaceful, so instead he left her a note and ran out the door.

--*--

Booth sat with Camille and the rest of the squints and Sweets in front of the live web feed in Cam's office. They were all becoming rather impatient but Booth was the worst. He looked like he was about to jump out of his seat and shoot off his gun at any time.

The door opened and Dr. Brennan rushed into the room "Did I miss it?"

"No" Booth answered shortly. Bones was upset with him, he could tell, but he couldn't worry about that right now.

"Right on time." And unfamiliar voice said among the group of friends, their eyes instantly shot to the screen. A masked figure had appeared before them and he was standing directly in front of the camera in a plain white room. "We have a little something to show Agent Booth." The masked man stepped out of the frame to reveal Sophia, tied to a chair with a swollen lip and fresh blood running from her forehead.

Booth shot up from his seat, anger seething from every pore of his body. Sophia's eyes looked straight into the camera, straight at her brother for the first time in years. Her lips were pressed together and her eyes were cold.

The masked man approached her from behind and put a hand on her shoulder; "Now Sophia, don't you have a message for brother dearest?" Sophia didn't say anything; instead she kept her eyes focused before her. "She's been giving us a hard time all morning," He pressed his finger to her gash rather roughly expecting her to wince but instead she closed her eyes momentarily then opened them in the same focused manner again.

"Sophia," Camille was the first one to speak, "Please cooperate with them." She urged her. She had known this, now young woman since she was a little girl, and it pained her to see her in this condition.

"Just do what they ask." Booth forced himself to say in a calm tone.

Anther figure walked into the screen, her watched his sister's eyes dart to the new man and sensed a tension with the new man, "I can think of a way to get her to cooperate."

For the first time Sophia spoke, "Because that's worked so well for you thus far."

He grabbed her face roughly, "You never learn do you?" His dark eyes focused on the camera before them, "Agent Booth I can see why you tossed this one aside, she's more trouble than she's worth. But don't worry we'll take care of that."

The other man who was shorter looked at the woman, "Come on, he doesn't care about you… save yourself."

"Just let me talk to her." Booth said trying to control the anger he was feeling from seeping through "Soph this isn't a game, do what they ask. Stop being so damn difficult."

"You all know just how to make a girl cooperate." Sophia said rolling her eyes.

"Your kids need you, they're a mess without you." Bones said for the first time trying to get her to cooperate with them, hoping she wouldn't get hurt.

There was a long silence before Sophia spoke up again "They want me to tell you a message from the orchestrator of this stupid plan, he says 'Be all you can be Agent Booth, lead the way'"

"How does this help?" Brennan asked.

"It doesn't." Sophia responded knowing that the message was too cryptic even for Seeley.

The muscular man put his hand on her shoulder, Sophia cringed slightly at the touch and Seeley didn't miss it, "That's all for now, think about it."

"Wait. Can I just say something?" Sophia said meeting his dark eyes.

"About what?" His voice was low, threatening and menacing.

"It's a brother and sister thing." She responded, forcing the words brother and sister out of her mouth.

"Go ahead, but you know the consequences of disobeying us and this time we'll double up if you say something out of line." His hand roamed up her thigh, "Understand?"

Sophia nodded "Remember that song I loved when we were younger, and I thought it kind of used to describe us how I modified it. Well I still do feel that way 'God smiles on my big brothers, inside and out they're better than I am.' Pray for me."

"That's enough!" She was grabbed roughly before the screen went blank.

"What was that?" Brennan asked her partner.

"She was sending a message. I think she's by a church. We have to find isolated churches."

"What about the message?" Camille asked, "Can you make anything out of it?"

"I don't care about that right now." Seeley responded his voice raising an octave "Sweets!" He called for the psychologist.

"Yes Agent Booth?" He stepped forward.

"What did you make of that?"

"It seems like she has her strength and she's smart. And she loves you."

"No not that… the consequences thing" His eyes bore into the young man before him, he needed to know what they were doing to his sister.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions it could be a variety of things." Sweets was anxious about responding, if he could he wanted to avoid doing so.

"Sweets!" Booth raised his voice and stepped forward, his hand resting on his pistol.

"There is a high probability that she's being punished through sexual exploitation" Sweets told him avoiding eye contact, no one wanted to hear that someone they loved regardless of the problems they have was being raped.

"Damn it! I'm going to kill them!" He yelled before storming out of the room.

--*--

A/N: Hey guys I hope you enjoy the chapter… let me know what you think.


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